Mash Temperature For A Kolsch

[craig maher]

I am making a double batch of Kolsch for the first time on sunday :beerbang:

95% IMC pils
5% JW wheat
Hallertauer Mittelfrueh @60 and 15 to 20IBU
Wyeast 2565

I have been doing a fair bit of research and peoples mash temps seem to vary greatly - as low as 63 and up to 67 - what mash temp do people recommend?

I was thinking 65 :unsure:

Cheers,

Craig

 

[Duff]

I do mine at 65C. It's not really a beer where you want residual sweetness or too much body. You want more of a slight dry crisp finish. The yeast itself is normally very highly attenuating, you should see somewhere between 82 - 85%. That's what I normally acheive using WLP029. Never tried the 2565.

Good luck with it, you will really enjoy the results.

Cheers.

 

[Aussie Claret]

I recently made a Kolsch and mashed at 65c turned out great. Yeast I used was European Ale Wyeast 1338, bittered to 23IBU using NZ B Saaz, Grain bill was 4kgs Weyermann Pilsner, 250g wheat, 250g carahell, 500g Galaxy, for a 25litre batch OG 1.050, slightly higher than the guidelines.

Very nice easy drinking beer.
AC

 

[DJR]

Hmm... double batch of Kolsch possibly on Sat at the meet, and then another double batch on Sunday?

I use 63-64C mash for 45m and then raise it up to 71C for another 45m, gets me in the low 80% attenuation range with 029, 036 and 2565. Might cheat a bit and use some sugar or galaxy malt and a 65C mash temp next time.

 

[devo]

I always try to stick with 66 degree C as a Mash temp.

 

[Screwtop]

Last two Kolsch

1. Mashed in 2.5L/Kg at 60c for 30 min then temp step to 70c for 60 min used starter of WLP 029 OG1.050 7 days @ 17c FG 1.020 very poor att 58%.

1. Mashed in 3L/Kg at 50c for 20 min Protien Rest. Then temp step to 60 c for 30 min Intermediate rest. Temp Step to 70 c for 30 min Sacc Rest. Starter of WLP 029 OG 1.048 7 days @ 17c FG 1.015 Att 67% Poor.

Changing to Wyeast 2565 for text batch

 

[sjc]

Hi Screwtop
sorry to hear you didn't achieve the desired attenuation on your latest kolsch style beers. I used WLP 029 in the last kolsch style beer I made and achieved a real attenuation of 78% (apparent attenuation 75%) with a step mash comprising 30 mins @ 63 C followed by 30 mins at 68 C then mash out at 78. Had a 3.5 L starter (slurry only added to wort) and fermented at around 15 C. About 3 weeks in primary and two weeks in secondary. It took ages for a slight phenolic taste to mellow out, which I think is attributable to the yeast strain, but when it did it was a great beer.
Would be interested to hear how you go with the Wyeast 2565.
Cheers
Stephen.

 

[craig maher]

Thanks for the advice and feedback guys :beer: I will go with 65 deg and see how it goes.

Cheers,

Craig

 

[Mr Bond]

Ive been doing a bit of research into this style and am planning to do this recipe.Ray Daniels is suggesting a 62c mash temp.

 

[razz]

64 degrees for mine. Very pleased with the results too !

 

[craig maher]

:huh:

Ive been doing a bit of research into this style and am planning to do this recipe.Ray Daniels is suggesting a 62c mash temp.

I looked at this recipe too - but wasn't so sure about the choice of yeast. :huh:

 

[Mr Bond]

yeah , Me too.I will only be using the grist and mash regime.Hops and yeast are still undecided.

 

[tdh]

I've done a string of Koelsch and wouldn't go below 65*C if I'm not step mashing.
Mash at 3.5l/kg for 90 minutes, stir the mash and check/adjust temp at 30 and 60 minutes and don't over sparge (stop at 1.020).

Ferment with Wyeast 2565 at 18-20*C and lager for 2-4 weeks at 0-5*C.

As they say in Hahndorf - "piece of Kuchen!"

tdh

p.s. forget wheat malt and crystals, stick with 100% Pils malt.
Have faith!

 

[chris.taylor.98]

The last Koelsch I mashed at 65C and ended up with a whopping 87% attenuation (OG 1.048, FG 1.006), using the Wyeast 2565. (Fermentation temp was 15C)

I also managed to oversparge it and made it horribly asstringent, so I agree don't let the gravity of the sparge drop below 1.020.

I think next time I will be lowering the mash temperature to acheive slightly less attenuation.

Grain bill was made up of only Pilsener Malt and some Wheat Malt.

Note this yeast seems to always bring out a slight honey note in the flavour. Next time I am thinking of trying the White labs Koelsch yeast as I am led to believe they are somewhat different.

 

[tdh]

Chris, you mean raise the temp., don't you?

Anyway, what's wrong with that sort of attenuation? Apart from astringency due to over sparging it's quite appropriate.

tdh

 

[mika]

An FG of 1.006 wouldn't leave a lot of body, but then this is meant to be a Light hybrid beer in the same kinda zipcode as Pilsener. If you think the alcohol is a bit much I'd look at stepping down the malt bill perhaps ?

As for mashing, think about what you'd mash a Pilsener at and shoot for that.
The temperatures everyone's mentioning will all depend on the system they're using and the calibration of the thermometer.

I recently attempted a recipe at the recommend mash temp and got an FG of 1.002, little bit lower than I was hoping for :unsure: